Gun Sales Set Record in Florida

The number of people seeking to buy guns is steadily increasing. From just under 300,000 in 2004, to just shy of 800,000 in 2012.

Gun Dealer Stephen Shea has never seen anything like the last year.

"It was a rush. A mad rush. It happened really quickly. I'm sure it's not quite over yet, but you know it's something I haven't seen in my time," said Shea.

The day after Thanksgiving is traditionally the busiest gun buying day in Florida, but this year it didn’t end there.

Black Friday, the Friday after Thanksgiving, set a record for gun sales in Florida. Then that record was broken the Saturday after the Connecticut shootings and that record went on to be broken five more times before the end of the year.Florida was just 2,230 checks short of 800,000. That's a 31% increase over last year.

"We set a record. Why do you think that is?"

"Well it's probably two reasons. Number one, people are afraid of gun bans. They are afraid of this administration and they want guns for protection. So those are the two driving forces I believe," said Unified Sportsmen of Florida Marion Hammer.

December saw 131,000 people purchasing guns. That's a 77% increase from December 2011.

More than 22,000 background checks were run between Christmas and New Year, suggesting the trend is not abating.

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